Vehicle event recorder systems and networks having integrated cellular wireless communications systems

ABSTRACT

Vehicle event recorder systems are arranged to be in constant communication with remote servers and administrators via mobile wireless cellular networks. Vehicle event recorders equipped with video cameras capture video and other data records of important events relating to vehicle use. These data are then transmitted over special communications networks having very high coverage space but limited bandwidth. A vehicle may be operated over very large region while maintaining continuous communications connections with a remote fixed server. As such, systems of these inventions may be characterized as including a mobile unit having: a video camera; a microprocessor; memory; an event trigger; and mobile wireless transceivers, and a fixed network portion including: mobile wireless cellular network, a protocol translation gateway, the Internet and an application-specific server.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/957,810 filed Aug. 2, 2013, entitled “Vehicle Event RecorderSystems And Networks Having Integrated Cellular Wireless CommunicationsSystems,” which claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/377,167 filed Mar. 16, 2006, entitled “Vehicle Event Recorder SystemsAnd Networks Having Integrated Cellular Wireless CommunicationsSystems,” which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THESE INVENTIONS

Field

The following inventions disclosure is generally concerned with vehicleevent recorder systems and specifically concerned with vehicle eventrecorder systems having cellular wireless transceivers which couple withwireless communications networks.

Prior Art

The inventions presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,947,817 by inventor Diem fornonintrusive diagnostic tools for testing oxygen sensor operationrelates to a diagnostic system for testing a vehicle where such systemsinclude a wireless communications link between a vehicle any remotenetwork of server computers. In particular, a WiFi type access pointsallowed an analyzer to communicate by way the Internet with a servercomputer hosting and oxygen sensor SOAP (simple object access protocol)service. In a nutshell, the system relates to smog sensors forautomobiles which communicate with remote servers by way of a WiFicommunications links.

Video surveillance systems are used to provide video records of events,incidents, happenings, et cetera in locations of special interest. Forexample, retail banking offices are generally protected with videosurveillance systems which provide video evidence in case of robbery.While video surveillance systems are generally used in fixed locationscenarios, mobile video surveillance systems are also commonly usedtoday.

In particular, video systems have been configured for use in conjunctionwith an automobile and especially for use with police cruiser typeautomobiles. As a police cruiser is frequently quite near the scene ofan active crime, important image information may be captured by videocameras installed on the police cruiser. Specific activity of interestwhich may occur about an automobile is not always associated with crimeand criminals. Sometimes events which occur in the environmentsimmediately about an automobile are of interest for reasons havingnothing to do with crime. In example, a simple traffic accident wheretwo cars come together in a collision may be the subject of videoevidence of value. Events and circumstances leading up to the collisionaccident may be preserved such that an accurate reconstruction can becreated. This information is useful when trying come to a determinationas to cause, fault and liability. As such, general use of video systemsin conjunction with automobiles is quickly becoming an important tooluseful for the protection of all. Some examples of the systems areillustrated below with reference to pertinent documents.

Inventor Schmidt presents in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,127, a video recordingsystem for a passenger vehicle, namely a school bus, which has two videocameras one for an inside bus view and one for a traffic view, a singlerecorder, and a system whereby the two cameras are multiplexed atappropriate times, to the recording device. A switching signaldetermines which of the two video cameras is in communication with thevideo recorder so as to view passengers on the passenger vehicle atcertain times and passing traffic at other times.

Thomas Doyle of San Diego, Calif. and QUALCOMM Inc. also of San Diego,present an invention for a method and apparatus for detecting faultconditions in a vehicle data recording device to detect tampering orunauthorized access, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,130. The system includesvehicle sensors for monitoring one or more operational parameters of thevehicle. The fault detection technique contemplates storing a currenttime value at regular intervals during periods in which the recordingdevice is provided with a source of main power. Inventor Doyle alsoteaches in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,071, a method and apparatus formonitoring parameters of vehicle electronic control units.

A “computerized vehicle log” is presented by Dan Kikinis of Saratoga,Calif. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,093. The vehicle accident recording systememploys a digital camera connected to a controller in nonvolatilememory, and an accident sensing interrupter. The oldest memory isoverwritten by the newest images, until an accident is detected at whichtime the memory is blocked from further overwrites to protect the morevital images, which may include important information about theaccident. Mr. Kikinis instructs that in preferred embodiments, thesystem has a communications port whereby stored images are downloadedafter an accident to a digital device capable of displaying images. Thisfeature is described in greater detail in the specification whichindicates a wired download to a server having specialized image handlingand processing software thereon.

Inventor Mr. Turner of Compton, Calif., no less, teaches an antitheftdevice for an automotive vehicle having both an audible alarm and visualmonitor system. Video monitor operators are responsible for monitoringand handling an emergency situation and informing a 911 emergencystation. This system is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,326.

A vehicle accident video recorder, in particular, a railroad vehicleaccident video recorder, is taught by inventors Cox et al. In thissystem, a method and monitoring unit for recording the status of therailroad vehicle prior to a potential accident is presented. Themonitoring unit continuously monitors the status of an emergency brakeof the railroad vehicle and the status of a horn of the railroadvehicle. Video images are recorded and captured for a predeterminedperiod of time after detecting that the emergency brake or horn blasthas been applied as an event trigger. This invention is the subject ofU.S. Pat. No. 6,088,635.

A vehicle crash data recorder is presented by inventor Ferguson ofBellaire, Ohio in U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,490. The apparatus is arrangedwith a three stage memory to record and retain information. And furtherit is equipped with a series and parallel connectors to provide instanton-scene access to accident data. It is important to note that Fergusonfinds it important to include the possibility of on-site access to thedata. Further, that, Ferguson teaches use of a wired connection in theform of a serial or parallel hardwire connector. This teaching ofFerguson is common in many advanced systems configured as vehicle eventrecorders.

A traffic accident data recorder and traffic accident reproductionsystem and method is presented as U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,933. A pluralityof sensors for registering vehicle operation parameters including atleast one vehicle mounted digital video, audio camera is included forsensing storing and updating operational parameters. A rewritable,nonvolatile memory is provided for storing those processed operationalparameters and video images and audio signals, which are provided by themicroprocessor controller. Data is converted to a computer readable formand read by a computer such that an accident can be reconstructed viadata collected.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,290 presented by Abe et al, teaches a memoryapparatus for vehicle information data. A plurality of sensors includinga CCD camera collision center of vehicle speed sensors, steering anglesensor, brake pressure sensor, acceleration sensor, are all coupled to acontrol unit. Further, the control unit passes information to a flashmemory and a RAM memory subject to an encoder. The information collectedis passed through a video output terminal. This illustrates anotherhardwire system and the importance placed by experts in the art on acomputer hardware interface. This is partly due to the fact that videosystems are typically data intensive and wired systems are necessary asthey have bandwidth sufficient for transfers of large amounts of data.

Mazzilli of Bayside, N.Y. teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,759 a 360°automobile video camera system. A complex mechanical mount provides fora single camera to adjust its viewing angle giving a 360° range forvideo recording inside and outside of an automotive vehicle.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,339 granted to Inventor Just, of Alpharetta, Ga.teaches a vehicle operation monitoring system and method. Operation of avehicle is monitored with an onboard video camera linked with a radiotransceiver. A monitoring service includes a cellular telecommunicationsnetwork to view a video data received from the transceiver to ahome-base computer. These systems are aimed at parental monitoring ofadolescent driving. The mobile modem is designed for transmitting livevideo information into the network as the vehicle travels.

Morgan, Hausman, Chilek, Hubenak, Kappler, Witz, and Wright with theirheads together invented an advanced law enforcement and responsetechnology in U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,874 granted Jun. 25, 2002. A centralcontrol system affords intuitive and easy control of numerous subsystemsassociated with a police car or other emergency vehicle. This highlyintegrated system provides advanced control apparatus which drives aplurality of detector systems including video and audio systemsdistributed about the vehicle. A primary feature included in this deviceincludes an advanced user interface and display system, which permitshigh level driver interaction with the system.

Inventor Lambert teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,080 a “digitalsurveillance system with pre-event recording”. Pre-event recording isimportant in accident recording systems, because detection of theaccident generally happens after the accident has occurred. A firstmemory is used for temporary storage. Images are stored in the temporarystorage continuously until a trigger is activated which indicates anaccident has occurred at which time images are transferred to a morepermanent memory.

Systems taught by Gary Rayner in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,389,340; 6,405,112;6,449,540; and 6,718,239, each directed to cameras for automobiles whichcapture video images, both of forward-looking and driver views, andstore recorded images locally on a mass storage system. An operator, atthe end of the vehicle service day, puts a wired connector into a deviceport and downloads information into a desktop computer system havingspecialized application software whereby the images and otherinformation can be played-back and analyzed at a highly integrated userdisplay interface.

It is not possible in the systems Rayner teaches for an administrativeoperator to manipulate or otherwise handle the data captured in thevehicle at an off-site location without human intervention. It isnecessary for a download operator to transfer data captured from therecorder unit device to a disconnected computer system. Whileproprietary ‘DriveCam’ files can be e-mailed or otherwise transferredthrough the Internet, those files are in a format with a can only bedigested by desktop software running at a remote computer. It isnecessary to have the DriveCam desktop application on the remotecomputer. In order that the files be properly read. In this way, datacaptured by the vehicles is totally unavailable to some parties havingan interest in the data. Namely those parties who do not have access toa computer appropriately arranged with the specific DriveCam applicationsoftware. A second and major disadvantage is systems presented by Raynerincludes necessity that a human operator service the equipment each dayin a manual download action.

Remote reporting and manipulation of automobile systems is not entirelynew. The following are very important teachings relating to someautomobile systems having a wireless communications link component.

Inventors Fan et al, teach inventions of methods and systems fordetecting vehicle collision using global positioning system GPS. Thedisclosure of Jun. 12, 2001 resulted in granted patent having U.S. Pat.No. 6,459,988. A GPS receiver is combined with wireless technology toautomatically report accident and third parties remotely located. Asystem uses the GPS signals to determine when an acceleration valueexceeds the preset threshold which is meant to be indicative of anaccident having occurred.

Of particular interest include inventions presented by inventors Nagdaet al., in the document numbered U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,524 entitled usinglocation data to determine trafficking route information. In this systemfor determining and disseminating traffic information or routeinformation, traffic condition information is collected from mobileunits that provide their location or position information. Further routeinformation may be utilized to determine whether a mobile unit isallowed or prohibited from traveling along a certain route.

A common assignee, @Road Inc., owns the preceding two patents inaddition to the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,529,159; 6,552,682;6,594,576; 6,664,922; 6,795,017; 6,832,140; 6,867,733; 6,882,313; and6,922,566. As such, @Road Inc., must be considered a major innovator inposition technologies arts as they relate to mobile vehicles and remoteserver computers.

General Motors Corp. teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 6,728,612, an automatedtelematics test system and method. The invention provides a method andsystem testing a telematics system in a mobile vehicle a test commandfrom a test center to a call center is based on a test script. Themobile vehicle is continuously in contact by way of cellularcommunication networks with a remotely located host computer.

Inventor Earl Diem and Delphi Technologies Inc., had granted to them onSep. 20, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 6,947,817. The nonintrusive diagnostic toolfor sensing oxygen sensor operation include a scheme or an oxygenanalyzer deployed in a mobile vehicle communicates by way of an accesspoint to a remotely located server. A diagnostic heuristic is used toanalyze the data and confirm proper operation of the sensor. Analysismay be performed by a mainframe computer quickly note from the actualoxygen sensor.

Similar patents including special relationships between mobile vehiclesand remote host computers include those presented by various inventorsin U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,735,503; 6,739,078; 6,760,757; 6,810,362; 6,832,141;and 6,850,823.

Another special group of inventions owned by Reynolds and ReynoldsHolding Inc., is taught first by Lightner et al, in U.S. Pat. No.6,928,348 issued Aug. 9, 2005. In these inventions, Internet basedemission tests are performed on vehicles having special wirelesscouplings to computer networks. Data may be further transferred toentities of particular interest including the EPA or California AirResources Board, for example, or particular insurance companies andother organizations concerned with vehicle emissions and environment.

Other patents held by Reynolds and Reynolds Holding Inc., include thoserelating to reporting of automobile performance parameters to remoteservers via wireless links. Specifically, an onboard data bus OBD systemis coupled to a microprocessor, by way of a standard electricalconnector. The microprocessor periodically receives data and transmitsit into the wireless communications system. This information is morefully described in U.S. patent granted Oct. 21, 2003 U.S. Pat. No.6,636,790. Inventors Lightner et al, present method and apparatus forremotely characterizing the vehicle performance. Data at the onboarddata by his periodically received by a microprocessor and passed into alocal transmitter. The invention specifically calls out transmission ofdata on a predetermined time interval. Thus these inventions do notanticipate nor include processing and analysis steps which result indata being passed at time other than expiration of the predeterminedtime period.

Reynolds and Reynolds Holding Inc., further describes systems wheremotor vehicles are coupled by wireless communications links to remotehost servers in U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,031.

While systems and inventions of the arts are designed to achieveparticular goals and objectives, some of those being no less thanremarkable, these inventions have limitations which prevent their use innew ways now possible. Inventions of the art are not used and cannot beused to realize the advantages and objectives of the inventions taughtherefollowing.

SUMMARY OF THESE INVENTIONS

Comes now, James Plante with inventions of vehicle event recordersystems having integrated cellular wireless communications links.

Vehicle event recorders including those provided with imaging means, arearranged to monitor vehicle use and to collect images of scenesoccurring about the vehicle's environments among other vehicleperformance and use data. Further, these systems are arranged to collectdata associated with a particular moment in time, or an “event” and topreserve that data for post event review.

In accordance with some preferred versions of these inventions, adetailed or ‘complete’ dataset is parsed, compressed and otherwisereduced into a data subset of limited size. Thus, an “abbreviated”dataset is a data subset which may be more readily transmitted onlimited bandwidth systems. While an abbreviated dataset is passed intothe network in near real time, a complete dataset may be preservedlocally for transmission at a later time when a higher bandwidth linkbecomes available.

As such, vehicle event recorder systems of these inventions are deployedin conjunction with wireless mobile telephone type communicationsnetworks. A video camera, vehicle systems transducers, and othermeasurement systems associated with vehicle use all operate to collectdata during the service use of a vehicle. On the occurrence of an“event”, for example, a traffic accident, data is captured and preservedin a special onboard memory. Further, a parsing module is provided toextract the most important information which may be represented in adataset of reduced size. Accordingly, these systems may be characterizedin summary as including vehicle event recorders with a video camera,microprocessor, memory, parsing module, and a mobile wirelesscommunications transceiver; further, those vehicle event recorders incommunication with a mobile wireless base station, gateway, Internet andremote application specific server.

Objectives of these Inventions

It is a primary object of these inventions to provide new vehicle fleetmanagement tools.

It is an object of these inventions to provide vehicle fleet managementsystems having a video component.

It is a further object to provide vehicle fleet management systemsarranged with high performance mobile network connectivity and function.

It is an object of these inventions to provide video based vehicle fleetmanagement systems in conjunction with ubiquitous, always-on, mobilewireless networks.

An object of these inventions includes provision of video based vehiclefleet management systems in conjunction with cellular type wirelessnetworks.

A better understanding can be had with reference to detailed descriptionof preferred embodiments and with reference to appended drawings.Embodiments presented are particular ways to realize these inventionsand are not inclusive of all ways possible. Therefore, there may existembodiments that do not deviate from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure as set forth by appended claims, but do not appear here asspecific examples. It will be appreciated that a great plurality ofalternative versions are possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinventions will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription, appended claims and drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of vehicle event recorder systemsincluding a vehicle event recorder in relation with a compound network;

FIG. 2 is a diagram including special detail relating to memorymanagement;

FIG. 3 presents in block diagram, versions of these systems along withspecial interfaces between some primary system elements;

FIG. 4 diagrams some important secondary elements; and finally

FIG. 5 illustrates a block schematic with specially arrangedauthentication clients/servers.

GLOSSARY OF SPECIAL TERMS

Throughout this disclosure, reference is made to some terms which may ormay not be exactly defined in popular dictionaries as they are definedhere. To provide a more precise disclosure, the following terms arepresented with a view to clarity so that the true breadth and scope maybe more readily appreciated. Although every attempt is made to beprecise and thorough, it is a necessary condition that not all meaningsassociated with each term can be completely set forth. Accordingly, eachterm is intended to also include its common meaning which may be derivedfrom general usage within the pertinent arts or by dictionary meaning.Where the presented definition is in conflict with a dictionary or artsdefinition, one must consider context of use and provide liberaldiscretion to arrive at an intended meaning. One will be well advised toerror on the side of attaching broader meanings to terms used in orderto fully appreciate the entire depth of the teaching and to understandall intended variations.

Cellular Wireless Communications Networks

The term ‘cellular wireless communications networks’ is intended toinclude those wireless networks having large coverage areas comprised ofcells which further include ‘handoff mechanisms for nodes passing fromone cell to another whereby a continuous connection is maintained.

Gateway

A ‘gateway’ is a coupling system used to interface together twoindependent systems whereby a protocol used on a first system istranslated into a protocol used on a second system.

Managed Loop Memory

A ‘managed loop memory’ is a memory system arranged to preserve indetail data captured during a period immediately past with respect toany instant but to overwrite that data with newer data when that datahas sufficiently aged in accordance with a predefined expirationdefinition.

Vehicle Environments

The environment in and about a vehicle includes those spaces interior orexterior with respect to the car body. That is to say, traffic ahead of,behind, towards the sides of, and inside the driver compartment are allincluded as vehicle environments.

Communications Port

Includes for example: cellular transceiver; WiFi; Network Interfacecard; serial port such as RS-232; among others.

Preferred Embodiments of These Inventions

In accordance with each of preferred embodiments of these inventions,vehicle event recorders with integrated cellular wireless communicationssystems are provided. It will be appreciated that each of embodimentsdescribed include an apparatus and that the apparatus of one preferredembodiment may be different than the apparatus of another embodimentpresented in an alternative example.

Combinations of vehicle event recorders coupled with mobile telephonecommunications networks, the Internet, and special application-specificservers and databases form the basis of best modes of these inventions.In particular, a vehicle event recorder is comprised of a video camera,a mobile wireless type radio transceiver and microprocessor. The videocamera is arranged to have a field-of-view including environments abouta vehicle in which the recorder is installed—generally a forward-lookingviewpoint and sometimes a vehicle driver compartment viewpoint. Thevideo camera runs continuously while a vehicle is in use capturingimages of scenes occurring about the vehicle. In the event of a trafficaccident or some other physical anomaly, a video series including framesfrom before and after the accident are captured by way of a specialmemory management system. A microprocessor is electronically coupled tothe mobile telephone transceiver whereby it can transmit/receive datato/from further into a network where it may couple with a remote serverrunning application specific software. The wireless transceiver operatesto convert electronic signals from the microprocessor intoelectromagnetic signals for free space transmission. Theseelectromagnetic signals are received at either of the base stationsbelonging to the spatially distributed cells and converted back intoelectronic signals. Those electronic signals may be further transmittedvia packet networks to remote servers for additional analysis andprocessing.

While vehicle event recorder arrangements have been suggested inconjunction with wireless communications networks, namely in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/299,028, that disclosure is hereby incorporatedherein by explicit reference, those systems are limited with respect tothe space in which download actions can be executed. In those systems, avehicle performs its assigned service and thereafter returns to adownload location; i.e. the vehicle enters a specially arranged spacesuch that the vehicle is near to a WiFi transceiver base station or‘access point’. Such proximity condition is detected, and in response todetection of that condition a data transfer action causes data to bepassed to the remote server. These systems require a vehicle to returnto an approved download space in order that an authorized networkconnection be made. It is generally not possible to transfer data whilethe vehicle is active in the duty of its assignment.

In the present inventions, it is a primary feature that a vehicle is incontinuous contact with the remote server while it is being used overextremely large regions. This is possible because a vehicle eventrecorder is coupled to a remoter server via links arranged in wirelesscellular communications networks. These are quite distinct from previouswireless networks as they are formed of a great plurality of cooperatingbase stations well distributed to provide continuous coverage overextended area. A plurality of transmitters each spatially removed fromanother, each having a communication range which forms a partial overlapwith the communication range of at least one other defines a coveragespace, the extent of said coverage space being at least a few tens ofcubic miles. Further distinction with regard to WiFi wireless systemswhich may include a plurality of transmitters all coupled to form asingle network, cellular networks, more specifically those arranged asmobile telephone systems, include special handoff mechanisms whereby amobile transceiver which passes from one cell to another cell maintainsa seemingly continuous connection. In this way, the coverage space inwhich a connection may be maintained to extend over many hundreds ofsquare miles.

To further improve range, wireless systems arranged as cellular networksuse electromagnetic radiation of particular frequency and specializedantennae suitable for long-range transmissions. These electromagneticsignals are arranged, both in frequency and protocol, to cooperate withcommon mobile telecommunications networks. For example, these signalsmay be arranged in the frequency band between about 750 MHz and 2000MHz. Some common cellular networks are build about the frequency bandshaving a center frequency at 900 MHz or 1800 MHz. For example, in a GSMfrequency band is divided into 124 carrier frequencies, or subbands,spaced 200 kHz apart in a frequency division multiple access FDMAscheme. Each subband may be further divided into a time-sharing scheme,or TDMA time division multiple access system.

As the particular nature of vehicle event recorder systems and their usein fleet vehicles demands network connections which may be maintainedcontinuously over very large ranges, the combination of a vehicle eventrecorder head with a cellular type wireless network should be viewed asparticularly beneficial and cooperative in a synergistic way. Thecombination of vehicle event recorders with wireless cellular networksprovides fantastic benefit. Among which includes continuingcommunication between a remote server and a vehicle during a servicetoday. However, this combination is also accompanied by somedisadvantage. The bandwidth of wireless cellular networks is notsufficiently adequate whereby high-resolution real-time video may beuploaded from an in-vehicle system. Accordingly, it is sometimesnecessary to provide special means for forming datasets of reduced sizewhich may be more readily transmitted over limited bandwidth networkssuch as common wireless cellular networks.

In a first of such systems, a vehicle event recorder head includes alocal memory which is well managed in view of an overwrite scheme whichdiscards unnecessary data of low value while preserving high value datafor transmission to the remote server. In other systems, a completedataset may be abbreviated with the abbreviated portion subject toinstant transmission and the complete dataset subject to non real-timetransmission, but rather subject to a delayed transmission at times whennetwork resources become more available. Thus, a high priority datasetand lower priority dataset may be formed in conjunction with a singleevent. The high priority dataset is of limited or reduced size andsubject to instant transmission, the low priority dataset may beconsiderably larger but more permissive with respect to transmissiondelay.

These concepts and others are more readily understood in view of thefollowing discussion with reference to numerals which is directed toFIGS. 1 through 5. Particularly, the diagram of FIG. 1 illustratesvehicle event recorder systems in a schematic presentation. A vehicleevent recorder head 1, includes as primary elements a video camera 2, awireless communications transceiver 3, and a computer microprocessor 4.These elements arranged in a common housing may be mounted convenientlywithin a vehicle for example, on the interior, near the dashboard behindthe windshield. The combination including: a video camera; processor;mobile wireless communications link, prepared as a single unit suitablefor integration with the vehicle is sometimes and herein called a‘vehicle event recorder head’ or the ‘head unit’. So long as a vehicleremains within the coverage space of the cellular network, imagescollected by the video camera may be processed by the microprocessor andtransmitted through the cellular network to remote servers. Adistribution of various cellular base stations 5 forms a coverage space6 which may extend many tens of cubic miles. A plurality of these basestations operate in conjunction with one another by way of ‘handoffmechanisms to form the ‘cellular’ arrangement 7. A vehicle passing fromone cell to another cell seamlessly transfers communication from a firsta base station to a second base station without ever having lostconnection 8 to the network. In this way, data from a vehicle eventrecorder may be continuously transferred into the network even at timeswhen a vehicle passes from a first cell to another. Thus very largecontinuous coverage areas are provided such that a vehicle eventrecorder mounted in a vehicle is continuously in contact with a remoteserver throughout the service day. Such advantage cannot be available inwired or fixed wireless systems having in comparison—severely limitedrange.

It is important to point out that an arrangement of these architecturesincludes a protocol translator between those communications protocols ofwired networks and those communications protocols preferred on mobilewireless networks. Thus these vehicle event recorder systems may beconsidered as including a compound communications network comprised of awireless side 8 and a wired side 9 with a protocol translator or‘gateway’ 10 there between. Further these compound networks may alsoinclude the Internet 11 which may be connected 12 to remote server 13,and still further to a mass storage database 14.

Experts in the field will surely appreciate that a high-resolution videocamera generates far too much data than which can be transmitted inreal-time over a common wireless mobile cellular communications network.It is for this reason that in some versions a special memory system beadopted whereby high-resolution video can be collected and pre-processedbefore transmission over the wireless link. In a first scheme, a managedloop memory is arranged to receive video frames while simultaneouslydiscarding older frames in accordance with a strategy which preservesmost valuable data. Since only ‘most valuable’ data is transmitted, alimited communications link is not totally consumed by an unprocessedvideo stream.

In FIG. 2 it can be it further appreciated that a vehicle event recorderhead 21 is comprised of a video camera 22, a microprocessor 23, awireless mobile communications transceiver 24, an advanced two-stagememory 25 comprising a managed-loop memory 26, and a flash-type memorybuffer 27. Although video is continuously captured by the video cameraand transferred to the managed loop memory portion, only on a toggleaction of the event trigger 28 is data transferred from the loop to theflash memory buffer. The data set which is transferred to the flashmemory buffer, may be considerably reduced in size when compared to anunprocessed continuous video stream. One will gain a furtherappreciation of these memory management arrangements, which are fullydisclosed in detail in U.S. patent application filed Dec. 7, 2005entitled: “Memory Management in Event Recording Systems” which is herebyincorporated into this disclosure by explicit reference.

While memory management techniques described above are consideredpreferred best modes, is explicitly noted and anticipated herein thatmany other schemes might be usefully deployed to reduce a continuousdata stream collected by a video camera to an abbreviated dataset moresuitable for transmission over limited bandwidth communications links.Accordingly, we consider a system architecture depicted in FIG. 3. Avehicle event recorder head 31 is comprised of the microprocessor 32,communications transceiver 33, video camera 34 having field of view 35,dataset manager 36, and mass data storage buffer 37. The dataset manageris arranged to receive video data and to process received data toproduce an abbreviated dataset which has a reduced amount of data incomparison to a data heavy continuous video stream. Once a datasetmanager produces an abbreviated dataset in the vehicle event recorderhead, that abbreviated dataset may be transmitted by mobilecommunications transceiver into the cellular network 38, and furtherthrough a wired network and to remote server 39.

FIG. 4 illustrates another important element of these systems. Due tothe specific physical nature of cellular communications networks,certain transmission protocols are required. However, wired networkshave different characteristics, and thus different transmissionprotocols are used with those networks. When a compound network isformed of a wireless portion and a wired portion, a system must be putin place to translate from one protocol to another and perform thereverse operation for data traffic going in an opposing direction. Thisprotocol translator is sometimes and herein called a ‘gateway’. FIG. 4illustrates a system having a gateway protocol translator between awired portion and a wireless portion of a compound communicationsnetwork. A vehicle event recorder head 41, includes video camera 42,microprocessor 43, and cellular transceiver 44. The cellular transceiver44 may transmit and receive data messages in accordance with protocolsused with wireless cellular networks such as W-CDMA EvDO, GPRS, EDGE,PCS, CDMA, and GSM, among others.

Wireless cellular network 45 may include a base station 46. The basestation may have special gateway module 47 arranged to translateprotocols associated wireless networks into protocols used more commonlywith wired networks such as the Internet 48. High speed wired typenetworks most commonly deploy transmission protocols such as thoseincluding: TCP/IP, UDP, XML, HTML data exchange formats among others. Inthis way, a vehicle event recorder system of these inventions includes avehicle event recorder head in communication with a compound networkincluding a wireless portion and a wired portion coupled together by wayof a protocol gateway. In preferred versions, the wireless portion ofthese networks is arranged as a cellular mobile wireless networkcommonly used with mobile telephones. In preferred versions, the wiredportion of the network includes the Internet which supports remotelocation and widely available access to a system server.

Finally, FIG. 5 illustrates yet another important feature of thesesystems. As these systems are primarily directed to vehicle fleetmanagement strategy, fleet member authentication client and servermodules are to be included as part of a vehicle event recorder head andremote server respectively. A fleet member authentication client is amodule which provides handshaking and identification functionality suchthat a particular vehicle event recorder associated with a particularvehicle, or vehicle and user/driver, to present itself as such to thefleet member authentication server module. In this way, a single remoteserver may be in communication with a plurality of vehicles and groupsof vehicles all associated with a particular vehicle fleet. The remoteserver can thereafter manage event data received from various vehiclesand sort it as part of the particular fleet and further manage access tothe data with regard to particular fleet administrator. In the figure,vehicle event recorder head 51, includes video camera 52, microprocessor53, and wireless transceiver 54. In addition vehicle event recorder headis integrated with a fleet member authentication client module 55. Whenin communication with a remote server, the authentication modulepresents an identity scheme which is transmitted by cellular network 56and further by wired network 57. The remote server 58 is integrated witha fleet member authentication server module 59. Calls from particularvehicle event recorders are received by the server and processed inaccordance with their association with a specific fleet known to theserver.

While in general a vehicle event recorder head is arranged toautomatically connect wirelessly to the network in response to an eventtrigger, other actions may be arranged to initiate a data transfers. Onesuch action includes that which occurs remote from the vehicle eventrecorder head. A systems administrator might initiate a request forinformation from a particular vehicle while operating in the field. Therequest is transmitted from the remote server, and hits the vehicleevent recorder head to trigger a data transfer in agreement with therequest. The request may be for a ‘present instant’ dataset which isgenerated at a vehicle event recorder head in real-time. Alternativelythe request may be for a dataset associated with a prior instant; thatdataset having been stored in a local memory. In either case, thesesystems are meant to include data-transfer actions and which areinitiated by an administrator operating from a remote server station orother remote location.

In some versions of these inventions, it is necessary throttle datatransmission in accordance with network congestion considerations. Whena wireless cellular telephone network is very busy, the system resourcesshould be allocated to those applications which require real-time dataexchange. For example, a voice conversation is a real-time applicationthat requires receipt of data without delay. However in most instances,data collected by a vehicle event recorder is not subject to compromisewhen it is received at a remote server with some reasonable delay.Accordingly, these systems are arranged such that the vehicle eventrecorder head is responsive in its data transmission activity asdirected from an indicator provided by the network, the indicator beingindicative of network capacity or network congestion. This function,among others may be taken up at a dataset manager.

While an ‘Internet Server’ is a general purpose server which can providehosting and HTML response services to any requesting agent, the serversdescribed here are not general purpose Internet servers. Rather, theseservers include application-specific code. This code is particularlyarranged with a view to support of vehicle event recorder systems. Thatis to say, servers are predefined in their function. Such that they areresponsive to calls made by cooperating vehicle event recorder headswhich have a priori knowledge of the existence of the server and thefunctions enabled therein. Thus proprietary calls and responses may beexchanged between an authorized vehicle event recorder head and a remoteserver suitable for receiving such calls from those authorized vehicleevent recorders.

By way of example one such important function includes authenticationservices. In these systems, it is important that only authorized vehicleevent recorder units be allowed to communicate with specific serversarranged to receive their communications. Thus both servers and vehicleevent recorders are arranged with authentication modules. Anauthentication client is part of a vehicle event recorder unit; and anauthentication server is part of the remote server suite offunctionality. Thus, special relationships are formed between vehicleevent recorders and associated remote servers. In this way, specialfleet administration including fleet messaging may be established.Vehicle event recorders may operate in groups of cooperating units,these groups having further associations with entities such as businessdivisions or other logical groupings.

One will now fully appreciate how highly mobile vehicle event recordersare coupled to remote servers by way of wireless cellular communicationsnetworks to provide continuous links over greatly extendedcommunications spaces. Although the present inventions have beendescribed in considerable detail with clear and concise language andwith reference to certain preferred versions thereof including bestmodes anticipated by the inventors, other versions are possible.Therefore, the spirit and scope of the invention should not be limitedby the description of the preferred versions contained therein, butrather by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle event recorder system configured tocouple with a vehicle, the system comprising: a camera configured toacquire visual information representing a vehicle environment, thevehicle environment including spaces in and around an interior and anexterior of the vehicle; one or more vehicle systems transducersconfigured to generate output signals conveying vehicle usageinformation, the one or more vehicle systems transducers forming atleast part of an on-board databus system, the vehicle usage informationincluding information related to one or more of a drive-train, atransmission, an engine, brakes, or lights of the vehicle; a managedloop memory configured to electronically store information; a buffermemory configured to electronically store information; a transceiverconfigured to wirelessly transmit information to a remotely locatedserver via a cellular communication network, wherein the transceiver isfurther configured to receive from the remotely located server a requestspecifying a first dataset; and a microprocessor configured to:effectuate storage of the visual information and the vehicle usageinformation in the managed loop memory in datasets, wherein the datasetsinclude the first dataset; and responsive to receipt of the requestspecifying the first dataset, facilitate wireless transmission of thefirst dataset via the transceiver.
 2. The vehicle event recorder ofclaim 1, wherein the microprocessor is configured to detect a firstevent based on the generated output signals, wherein the first eventincludes one or more of a vehicle accident, swerving, or hard braking.3. The vehicle event recorder of claim 2, wherein the microprocessor isconfigured such that the first dataset includes visual information andvehicle usage information from before and after the first event.
 4. Thevehicle event recorder of claim 2, wherein the microprocessor is furtherconfigured to facilitate transmission of the first dataset responsive tocompression and storage of the first dataset in the buffer memory afterthe first event.
 5. A method for transmitting information from a vehicleevent recorder system to a remotely located server, the vehicle eventrecorder system including a managed loop memory and a buffer memory bothconfigured to store information, the vehicle event recorder systemconfigured to couple with a vehicle, the method comprising: acquiringvisual information representing a vehicle environment, the vehicleenvironment including spaces in and around an interior and an exteriorof the vehicle; generating output signals conveying vehicle usageinformation, the vehicle usage information including information relatedto one or more of a drive-train, a transmission, an engine, brakes, orlights of the vehicle; receiving from the remotely located server arequest specifying a first dataset; effectuating storage of the visualinformation and the vehicle usage information in the managed loop memoryin datasets, wherein the datasets include the first dataset; andresponsive to receiving the request specifying the first dataset,facilitating wireless transmission of the first dataset to the remotelylocated server via a cellular communication network.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising: detecting a first event based on thegenerated output signals, wherein the first event includes one or moreof a vehicle accident, swerving, or hard braking.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein the first dataset includes visual information and vehicleusage information from before and after the first event.
 8. The methodof claim 6, further comprising facilitating wireless transmission of thefirst dataset responsive to compression and storage of the first datasetin the buffer memory after the first event.
 9. A vehicle event recordersystem configured to couple with a vehicle, the system comprising: acamera configured to acquire visual information from a vehicleenvironment, the vehicle environment including spaces in and around aninterior and an exterior of the vehicle; one or more vehicle systemstransducers configured to generate output signals conveying vehicleusage information, the one or more vehicle systems transducers formingat least part of an on-board databus system, the vehicle usageinformation including information related to one or more of adrive-train, a transmission, an engine, brakes, or lights of thevehicle; an electronic memory configured to electronically storeinformation; a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit informationto a remotely located server via a cellular communication network,wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive from theremotely located server a request specifying a first dataset; and amicroprocessor configured to: effectuate storage of the visualinformation and the vehicle usage information in the electronic memoryin datasets, the datasets including the first dataset; and responsive toreceipt of the request specifying the first dataset, facilitate wirelesstransmission of the datasets via the transceiver, the microprocessorconfigured to facilitate wireless transmission of the first dataset tothe remotely located server via the transceiver.
 10. A method fortransmitting information from a vehicle event recorder system to aremotely located server, the vehicle event recorder system configured tocouple with a vehicle, the method comprising: acquiring visualinformation from a vehicle environment, the vehicle environmentincluding spaces in and around an interior and an exterior of thevehicle; generating output signals conveying vehicle usage information,the vehicle usage information including information related to one ormore of a drive-train, a transmission, an engine, brakes, or lights ofthe vehicle; receiving from the remotely located server a requestspecifying a first dataset; effectuating electronic storage of thevisual information and the vehicle usage information in datasets, thedatasets including the first dataset; and responsive to receiving therequest specifying the first dataset, facilitating wireless transmissionof the first dataset to the remotely located server via a cellularcommunication network.